An odd beer story out of Canada's province with the best track record for coming up with odd beer stories. Apparently, the young are just not drinking enough macro-bleck:

Joel Levesque, Moosehead's vice-president, said the demographic that drinks the most beer, New Brunswickers aged 19 to 25, is shrinking and despite sunny weather, summer sales are down. He said that had sparked a fierce competition among the big brewers. "You entice people to take your brand by offering something that they can't get from their brand regularly, for example a T-shirt in the box or in this case, it's $5 coupons," he said. Levesque said there would be more discounts as major labels try to clear shelves by Labour Day.

Interesting to note that the province's craft brewers have no such worries - not competition at all as they are selling every drop they brew. And the government booze monopoly notes that there has been no overall drop in beer sales this summer. So, does this mean that people there are content to use their market power to force decision making in the brew economy? In that respect, demanding discount coupons for industrial beer or supporting craft brewers in this sense is a similar consumer response. And remember, too, that this is a border province where people are happy to slip over to Maine or Quebec for a better beer selection.

Isn't it the new generation of drinkers just following its own sense of good taste and good value? Wouldn't it be nice it was actually an example of the consumer getting its way even in a monopolist overly regulated marketplace?